Damn, for a minute I almost thought by LA you meant somewhere in Louisiana, that i could probably manage. Until I finish school next summer I don't think i'll be able to make it to LA. Maybe sept 2011. It's always been a goal of mine to visit and participate in a gathering.

I'm hesitant to sign up since my training has been so spotty for the last year. I'll at least go as a spectator though. It would be cool to see a good showing from Bullshido. They're a lot of fun to watch and I think everyone here would like it.

Come on Bullshido, you’re always telling ninjers and other larpers to look up the Dog Brothers and how they apply live training to weapon work. Show your support; you know it’ll be fun. I’ll buy a round for any bullies that show up.

I felt like this thread could use a conclusion, so I did a little writeup on what happened that day (sorry there's no pics, I brought my camera but it wasn't working at all):

The gathering was at Gokor’s gym (Hayastan MMA) in North Hollywood, so I left a few hour early for the long drive. I was by myself since my friend/training partner bailed on me the day before and nobody else really wanted to come with me. The gym is small looking and low key, but it’s very nice and large on the inside. Half of it is open mat space divided by a cage fence, with seating for spectators. I’d like to train there if I lived in the area.

Almost immediately upon checking in as a fighter, I ran into Poidog, and he introduced me to his crew of people there. I also ran into a fighter I met two years ago the last time I fought. He was a Canadian who was also there alone since his training partners had things come up. I’m horrible with names so I forgot a lot of them. Also the ranger from the park where we used to spar was there too, so that was cool. I was excited to see him fight, because we knew he trained but never really saw him do anything because he was working. I planned on doing knifework, since I haven’t had anyone swing a stick at me in at least a year, but Crafty announced that he wanted just 1 knife fight each so we could get to the sticks. Crafty always has a little speech for the fighters and the audience, and it’s always good to hear. He’s got a way with words and makes all the fighters and observers glad that they’re there.

I lined up a knife fight with a guy (Boo Dog I think), and we watched a few other knife fights while we waited. I seem to recall Poidog icepicking the hell outta some guy. During my fight, I seemed to be doing okay. I focused on keeping mobile and trying for shots to the weapon arm and the face. He did a thrust to my face that flustered me a little, and when I recovered his right roundhouse kick hit me in the face and knocked me to the ground. I started to get up, but when I realized I was getting up towards him and I didn’t want to get blasted while kneeling, I rolled onto my back to try to use my legs to create distance. He rushed in and I tried to sweep him, but he threw some hard stabs to the outside of my leg and Crafty called it (got some bruises there the next day; a real knife would have probably crippled me). It was all kinda surreal, because I was being stabbed by a guy who’s fencing mask had the ghost face from Scream airbrushed onto it. We went back to the center of the mat and took our masks off, and it turns out my mask had been dented in by the kick, causing it to cut my nose, and it had a little time to catch the sweat and make me fairly bloody. I ran my hand across my face to clear the sweat, and that’s when I noticed my hand was red. Crafty asked me if I had been rocked by the kick (he does this because when someone gets seriously jarred by something, they probably shouldn’t fight again that day). I said I was basically fine, just some whiplash.

So I didn’t plan on stickfighting, but the knife part was over quick and I was standing around a lot watching fights. One of them (Top Dog I think) recommended that I try a stickfight with a small Filipino guy named Toki (I think). He was the guy that did the cool airbrush designs on some of the fencing masks. His was painted like the Jason Voorhies mask from the Friday the 13th series, so I would be doing another fight resembling a childhood nightmare. This guy was very fast and was also very experienced in the martial arts. His size and experience made me more confident that I wouldn’t be injured. We exchanged some strikes and he tried to kick me at close range, and I caught the kick, stepped behind his leg and took him to the ground. I don’t remember clearly what the next few things were, but it ended with me being stabbed in the culo with a training knife he produced.

There were some great fights that day, including one with a parkour guy doing a downward stick strike after jumping off a wall. The same guy also did some flying jump kicks in a 3 person fight and he tried a staff fight at the end, and I gotta respect the guys who stepped it up to long 2 handed sticks. Watching Poidog fight with the double sticks was a treat. I saw lots of good stuff that day, laughed a lot, and would have died twice in real life. I came away with a new fervor to train in this stuff, and I’ve been getting in touch with the Babaos for some real escrima training. Also once I got the one stickfight out of the way, my confidence that I can stickfight without serious injury skyrocketed. It’s that first one that works out a lot of the doubts. At the beginning of the gathering, Crafty made an analogy to the fighters that fighting is like sex- the first time you do it, you won’t be very good, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it, because you’ll get better as you get more comfortable with it. I reflected on that at the end of the day and it made more sense. I’ll definitely be back.

Another report:
This was my first gathering as a fighter. I'd been 3 times before over the last 10 years as an observer going back to the old park on 4th St days. For the last year I've been training with Crafty in his Saturday group class. Crafty doesn't push anybody to fight in the Gathering but he knew I was interested and has been very encouraging. Even so, for the month prior to the Gathering I was experiencing intermittent bouts of vaginitis. But Crafty said I was ready so I hung on to that and squashed the self doubt.

I arrived at Gokor's gym that morning with my girlfriend for moral support and just in case I needed her to drive me home. Codos is right about Gokor's gym. Super nice with a beautiful and huge mat for us to fight on. Taking the advise of Crafty and other Gathering vets, I decided beforehand I would do 3 fights; 1 knife and 2 single stick. While waiting for things to kick off I got my 3 fights set up.

First knife fight was with Kyle from the No Ho clan. Total blur, I remember getting tagged a few times in the head, probably kill shots. I tied up his knife arm and we went to the ground. Even though I landed on top he got his knife and stabbed me several times in the back of the head. Crafty called it. I'd have been dead dead.

Second fight, a semi blur, single stick against Steve from one of the Carolinas. That dude swings a mean ass stick. I played the Salty Game which kept me safe from a nasty head shot. We clash and go to the ground with Steve on top in side mount. My stick arm was free and so I start nailing him in the side of the head. Fencing masks are off. In the spirit of "be friends at the end of the day" I'm not wailing on his ear hole/jaw hinge/trigeminal area like I could have, just lightly tapping. Maybe too light. Steve secured an americana and I tapped out.

Third fight, William from So Cal. William was a lefty. Thank God I trained for a lefty just in case. I played Salty game again. Much better results. After some fun on our feet we ended in a clinch. I was able to get a trip and take him down, got the mount and was getting ready to deliver some punyos when time was called.

All in all a fantastic day. I came away relatively unscathed. Just a few stick hickeys. I didn't take any stick shots to the head but did get to deliver several.

I am so grateful to Crafty for his awesome teaching over the last year. It really made a huge difference. Anybody serious about fighting in the Gathering owes it to themselves to spend at least some time training with Crafty in person. His insights are invaluable.

I'm trying to remember who you were based on your fight descriptions. There were so many fights its all kind of a blur now. I'd love to work with Crafty in person, but that's just not feasible. I love listening to his rants and when he addresses the fighters and audience. I even tried growing some sideburns like him but they really weren't helping me with the ladies. I just started training with Narrie Babao though and I'm super excited about that.

I was the blond guy with the black Beat Bros Sounds shirt and brown shorts, btw.